Chapter 875: Entering Heiyu

Heiyu entrance.

At seven in the morning, cold damp air blew out from the valley entrance, the wind whimpering.

The sky was pallid.

Not sure if it's because Heiyu itself is special, even in daytime one could still feel a yin chill.

Heiyu's range isn't small; the area likely covers about half of the nearby mountains.

At the core lies a town built within the former scenic area, named Black Town.

And behind the town is the gathering place that possesses spirit‑energy crops.

(Heiyu entrance-Heiyu core-Black Town-gathering place-Heiyu outskirts-Yingshan suburbs...)

After drawing the whole map, Lin An initially thought the people with spirit‑energy crops were survivors from Yingshan.

They entered the valley, passed through all of Heiyu, and were then forced to stay there.

But actually, before Heiyu appeared, shortly after the Apocalypse broke out, they established a gathering place in the villages near the town.

Those people were survivors who had fled the suburbs and cities; after reaching the villages near Black Town, they relied on the ability of the leading Awakened One to form a gathering place.

Thanks to the terrain, they quickly developed, absorbing many survivors.

But for unknown reasons.

In the third month after the Apocalypse broke out, they horrifiedly discovered that in the Black Town they had hoped to take, a large amount of black mist suddenly surged out, spread in an extremely short time, and ultimately, like a giant mouth opening, encircled them completely.

Going from the south (downward), one reaches Heiyu's most terrifying area, Black Town.

Going from the remaining three sides, one is likewise surrounded by black mist, and in both east and west directions third‑rank Mutants roam.

This also caused the gathering place, which had hoped to become a Safe Zone, to be instantly trapped dead within Heiyu.

Fortunately, the first wave of black mist did not spread into their gathering place; relying on spirit‑energy crops, they barely managed to hold on until now.

But safety is only temporary.

According to their information, the Heiyu that had originally stopped expanding is now continually 'gnawing' at their already meager safety range.

Therefore.

After their leader sent out team after team to try to leave Heiyu to no avail, they could only hope that the spirit‑energy seeds in their hands would attract powerful Awakened Ones to bring them out of Heiyu.

Standing at the valley entrance, Lin An glanced at the countdown,

At the entrance, which resembled a three‑way junction, many warning signs had been erected.

The hand‑written lacquer‑red lettering shows it was put up spontaneously by the survivors.

At a glance it feels uncomfortable, and the whole valley is shrouded in a layer of mist, obscuring the full view.

There are still seven hours until the countdown ends.

After much consideration, he still decided to enter Heiyu directly, not waiting for the countdown to end.

After closing the mission panel, he carefully examined the footprints around him.

The surroundings had clearly been cleared; everywhere on the ground were overturned stones.

But under scrutiny with the True Eye, he still found faint traces of spirit energy.

That was the direction taken by the fleeing third‑rank Awakened One, Yuan Feng.

The left‑most entrance...

His eyes flickered, and Lin An's heart stirred.

This direction is also the relatively safe route mentioned in the intel from Yingshan.

And after reviewing all the data compiled by Yingshan Safe Zone, he also gained a rough understanding of the situation inside Heiyu.

Here, various events such as ghosts are not nearly unsolvable or unbeatable as they are outside.

Although the difficulty remains high and all attack means are weakened, in practice they can still inflict some damage or at least impede.

Combined with his newly acquired Cain's Hand, he will be considerably better off dealing with these entities than an ordinary Awakened One.

Without hesitation, after confirming the direction, Lin An stepped into Heiyu.

In an instant, the sky changed.

The scene shifted.

The valley before his eyes turned into a dirt road; both sides were thick mist, the ground overgrown with weeds.

Visibility was extremely limited; even with Lin An's True Eye activated, he could not see beyond a hundred meters.

The maple trees on either side of the road swayed; light filtering through the leaf gaps was split into dim projections.

At the same time, a brief system prompt came:

"Entering Heiyu range, communication function temporarily closed."

What a rapid change.

Walking in the lead, Lin An continuously spread his mental power, scanning the environment inch by inch.

The environment here clearly does not match the terrain he observed outside.

Upon entering, it seemed to trigger some kind of event?

The system gave no new prompt, indicating that for now it is still safe.

Not knowing what event he had encountered, Lin An simply slowed his steps, staying vigilant.

According to the intel, events triggered inside Heiyu are all random; the 61 events compiled by Yingshan merely indicate that someone survived after encountering such an event.

If lucky, encountering a recorded event allows one to survive step by step, even complete the mission.

But if unlucky, one could die without anyone knowing.

Divide zones, after entering lock communications..

Is Heiyu similar to a dungeon mechanism?

Closing the communication function, he had already known this from Lianglong's mouth.

So he simply let Zhang Tie and Yun Tian stay outside to guard Lianglong, while only he and Mo Ling entered Heiyu.

After all, their abilities are clearly not suited to face Supernatural Entities.

Actually, Lin An even planned to investigate Heiyu first, then consider whether to take over the Yingshan Safe Zone.

The surroundings were completely silent, with only the footsteps of him and Mo Ling.

As they went deeper, Mo Ling, following behind Lin An, surveyed the surroundings with a blank expression, showing no sign of excessive fear.

She was originally an Undead Body.

Ordinary Supernatural Entities or chaotic things would not actively attack her.

But, looking at Lin An's back, a flash of indignation crossed her eyes.

Damn Lin An, he actually didn't hug me!

After discovering last night that she could absorb the power from Strange Objects, Lin An simply let her slowly draw out the energy from the blood-red high heels.

Colonel Chu's guess was correct; her strength could be enhanced through the products of Supernatural Incidents.

Logically, this should be an unexpected blessing.

But... too tired.

From evening to morning, although that gloomy energy gave her a considerable boost in strength, the extraction process was extraordinarily taxing.

Unlike easily absorbable Spiritual Energy, this energy named Deathly Energy by Lin An, like spider silk, could only be absorbed bit by bit.

It took a whole night, but only one-third was drawn out.

The increase in strength was roughly equivalent to Awakened Ones killing a First-Level Mutant.

If she could absorb all four Strange Objects, she would be able to advance to the next stage.

Not knowing how long they had walked,

They walked in silence, not knowing what that blockhead Lin An was thinking.

Watching Lin An walk faster and faster, Mo Ling couldn't help but want to bite someone.

But in the time it took to lower her head, Lin An had already pulled far ahead...

To be honest, she really was a bit tired.

Due to her constitution, she was naturally prone to drowsiness.

But last night, in order to let her properly absorb Deathly Energy, Lin An silently dumped her aside, and she could only sit speechlessly on another chair.

Damn idiot Lin An, he really doesn't understand romance at all!

Muttering to herself.

"Thud~"

Watching Lin An almost disappear into the mist, at some distance from her.

Mo Ling pouted, couldn't help it, kicked up a small pebble, pretending to accidentally kick him from behind.

Not hugging me would be bad enough, but he walks so fast!

She hoped Lin An would realize that she, Mo Ling, was exhausted!

As expected.

As an arc was thrown out.

The pebble kicked Lin An's heel, and that annoying guy finally knew to stop.

But before Mo Ling could feel a hint of joy, imagining Lin An would helplessly turn around,

Only to see that the not-so-distant figure did not turn its head; instead, after a brief pause, it stiffened its whole body and hurriedly walked backward toward her.

Walking backward!?

Why... not turn around!?

He blinked in surprise.

"Lin An!?"

No response.

Watching the figure rapidly backward-approach, Mo Ling only felt a strong surge of unease in her heart.

The somewhat girlish demeanor vanished instantly.

"Swish"

A blue dagger was drawn, she bent slightly, and her steps stopped.

A flash of coldness crossed Mo Ling's eyes as she stared fixedly at the figure walking backward toward her.

"Who exactly are you!?"